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Babylonian astrology

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Bablylonian astrology referrs to the type of astrology that was developed and practiced by several cultures in the Mesopotamian region from sometime around the last half of the 2nd millennium BCE, until about the 2nd cetnruy BCE.

The origins of much of the astrology that would later develop in Asia, Europe and the Middle East are derived directly or indirectly from the system of astrology that was developed by the ancient Babylonians and their system of celestial omens that began to be compiled at least by the last half of the 2nd millennium BCE. This system of celestial omens later spread by the Babylonians to other areas such as India, China and Greece where it merged with preexisting indigenous forms of astrology to create several different traditions such as Hellenistic astrology, Vedic astrology and Chinese astrology.

1 Rationale
2 Planets in Babylonian Astrology
3 Interpretation
4 Focus
5 The Zodiac
6 Sources

Rationale

The movements of the constellations, sun, moon and five visible planets were regarded as the physical manifestation of the gods and celestial phenomena were thought of as the voluntary communication of the gods intentions to mankind. If, therefore, one could correctly read and interpret the activity of these powers, one knew what the gods were aiming to bring about.

The Babylonian priests accordingly applied themselves to the task of perfecting a system of interpretation of the phenomena to be observed in the heavens, and it was natural that the system was extended from the moon, sun and five planets to the more prominent and recognizable fixed stars.

The astronomical knowledge presupposed and accompanying early Babylonian astrology was essentially of an empirical character.

Planets in Babylonian Astrology

Of the planets five were recognized - Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, Mercury and Mars - to name them in the order in which they appear in the older cuneiform literature; in later texts Mercury and Saturn change places.

These five planets were identified with the gods of the Babylonian pantheon as follows:

Jupiter with Marduk;
Venus with the goddess Ishtar,
Saturn with Ninib,
Mercury with Nebo,
and Mars with Nergal.

Interpretation

The interpretations themselves were based (as in the case of divination through the liver) chiefly on two factors:

On the recollection or on written records of what in the past had taken place when the phenomenon or phenomena in question had been observed, and
Association of ideas - involving sometimes merely a play upon words - in connection with the phenomenon or phenomena observed.

Thus, if on a certain occasion, the rise of the new moon in a cloudy sky was followed by victory over an enemy or by abundant rain, the sign in question was thus proved to be a favourable one and its recurrence would thenceforth be regarded as a good omen, though the prognostication would not necessarily be limited to the one or the other of those occurrences, but might be extended to apply to other circumstances.

On the other hand, the appearance of the new moon earlier than was expected was regarded as an unfavourable omen - prognosticating in one case defeat, in another death among cattle, in a third bad crops - not necessarily because these events actually took place after such a phenomenon, but by an application of the general principle resting upon association of ideas whereby anything premature would suggest an unfavourable occurrence.

In this way a mass of traditional interpretation of all kinds of observed phenomena was gathered, and once gathered became a guide to future priests and celestial diviners. The earliest major collection of celestial omens was a series of more than seventy tablets called the Enūma Anu Enlil which were written in Akkadian sometime around the last half of the 2nd millennium BCE.

Focus

Babylonian astrology in its earliest stage was marked by three characteristic limitations:

In the first place, the movements and position of the heavenly bodies point to such occurrences as are of public import and affect the general welfare.

The focus, especially in early Babylonian astrology, is directed more towards Mundane astrology and the individual's interests are not in any way involved, and it would be many centuries before the development of genethlialogy where the birth chart of the individual is examined.

In Babylonia and Assyria the focus centred largely and indeed almost exclusively in the public welfare and the person of the king, because upon his well-being and favour with the gods the fortunes of the country were dependant, in accordance with the ancient conception of kingship (see J. G. Frazer, The Early History of Kingship).

Similarly, the other accomplishments of Babylonian astronomers, such as their system or rather systems of moon calculations and the drawing up of planetary tablets, belong to this late period, so that the golden age of Babylonian astronomy belongs not to the remote past, as was until recently supposed, but to the Seleucid period, i.e. after the advent of the Greeks in the Euphrates Valley.

The Zodiac

We have, probably as early as the days of Khammurabi, i.e. c. 2000 B.C., the combinations of prominent groups of stars with outlines of pictures put together, but there is no evidence that prior to 700 B.C. more than a number of the constellations of our zodiac had become part of the mainstream astronomy/astrology.

The theory of the ecliptic as representing the course of the sun through the year, divided among twelve constellations with a measurement of 30° to each division, is of Babylonian origin; but it does not appear to have been perfected until the late 5th century BCE.